The Horse:Your Guide To Equine Health Care provides monthly equine health care information to horse owners, breeders, veterinarians, barn/farm managers, trainer/riding instructors, and others involved in the hands-on care of the horse.
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38 TheHorse.com THE HORSE February 2016 attended an equine nutrition continu- ing education (CE) course within a year, and the surveyors found no correlation between level of knowledge and CE attendance. In fact, level of nutrition knowledge seemed to relate simply to the number of equine patients seen on a weekly basis—the more horses the veterinarians treated, the more confident they felt about their equine nutrition knowledge. Veterinarians in Georgia rated their confidence level in administering nutri- tional advice for managing 10 of the more prevalent equine conditions on a scale from 1 to 5, with ranks 4 and 5 consid- ered acceptable levels of confidence, and ranks 3 and below unacceptable (see the bar chart below). They were most confident about advis- ing owners on nutrition for colic cases; more than 80% of practitioners reported a 4 or higher. However, less than 40% of those surveyed felt confident giving nutri- tional advice to horse owners managing hyperkalemic periodic paralysis (HYPP), pituitary pars intermedia dysfunction (PPID), equine polysaccharide storage myopathy (EPSM), and developmental orthopedic diseases (DOD). Common sources veterinarians used to seek out in- formation included magazines and books; 97% considered these sources to be very or somewhat important, followed by the Internet at 89%. Veterinary Education Although nutrition isn't a main interest of practitioners attending CE courses, AAEP adds nutrition sessions where appropriate to support practitio- ner learning in related areas. "We often include a nutrition session as a comple- ment to other topics. For example, at our recent Focus on Ambulatory Medicine meeting, we included a nutrition session on feeding the senior horse," says Baker. The 2016 AAEP Convention, taking place in Orlando, Florida, will also include a "how to" session called "Nutrition: Feed- ing the Special Needs Horse." Another option for nutritional education is The American College of Veterinary Nutrition's (ACVN) offerings. To become veterinary nutritionists, prac- titioners must complete at least two years of unique training in intensive clinical, teaching, and research, then pass a com- prehensive examination for board certifi- cation as a Diplomate of the ACVN. The current diplomate directory includes only four with an equine nutrition interest. "In general, the horse feed industry has not yet recognized the value of nutrition programs in veterinary schools to the ex- tent that the pet food industry has," says Sarah Ralston, DVM, PhD, Dipl. ACVN, associate director-teaching of the Rutgers Equine Science Center and an associate professor in the Department of Animal Sciences at Rutgers' School of Environ- mental and Biological Sciences. Some pet food companies sponsor academic veterinary nutrition programs and hire the graduates of these programs, which reinforces the value and need for veterinary nutritionists (and, therefore, ACVN diplomates) as well as replenish- ing the ranks of small animal veterinary nutritionists in academia. "With fewer equine veterinary nutritionists in veteri- nary academia, there are fewer to act as mentors to ACVN residents and, there- fore, fewer new ACVN diplomates emerge specializing in equine nutrition," says Ralston. For equine practitioners, specializing in nutrition is highly beneficial, as it is with other areas of veterinary expertise, to ensure that the client, whether owner or referring veterinarian, receives the most accurate science-based, relevant in- formation available. "This is particularly important at a time when so much well- meaning but unscreened and erroneous information is available to anyone who seeks clinical nutrition guidance on the Internet or from industry representatives, many of whom may lack veterinary nutri- tion training," Ralston adds. SOS: Seeking Out Specialists To meet clients' needs, it appears that veterinarians must become better pre- pared to give nutritional advice. However, 75% of the equine veterinarians surveyed in Georgia reported having no interest in an equine nutrition CE course, even with online accessibility. Especially when interest and/or time is lacking to keep up with the rapid release of new equine nutrition data, it's important for practitioners and horse owners alike to remember there are NUTRITION 100 90 80 70 60 50 40 30 20 10 0 Obesity Laminitis Geriatric HYPP PPID EPSM DOD Gastric Ulcers Colic Heaves CONDITION Veterinarian Confidence Level in Nutritional Advice PERCENTAGE *Adapted from JL Roberts and J Murray. 2012. "Survey of Equine Nutrition: Perceptions and Practices of Veterinarians in Georgia, USA" USDA-APHIS TheHorse.com POLL We asked TheHorse.com users: Where do you turn first for equine nutrition information? ■ Equine veterinarian ................ 30% ■ Equine nutritionist ................. 21% ■ Social media (Facebook), online articles, and forums .... 20% ■ Print books, magazines, or journals ............................. 19% ■ Other ...................................... 10% 457 TOTAL RESPONSES Make your response count at TheHorse.com/poll